Hau'oli Lanui
by KomodoQueen
Summary: It was Christmas, Danny was hurting and - unusually - Steve was not entirely to blame ... Yet more fluff - it's definitely a thing ... a thing which is entirely the fault of TheDogo and IreneClaire ...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Unfortunately, I still own absolutely nothing, save an overactive imagination - even the pesky plot wabbit is a loaner :o(

**A/N:** This story is dedicated to all of you who have been kind enough to read, review and follow my stories - and especially for my DWOCD 'ohana, certain of whom have faced monumental struggles and trauma in recent weeks.

I know some of you will be wondering what's happened to Aia Ho'i! and I'd like to reassure you that I will be finishing the story. RL has prevented me from visiting that particular creative headspace for the past little while, hence this 'fluff' instead. Many thanks for your continued support.

Thanks once again to my awesome friend _TheDogo_ for the beta ... any errors which remain are entirely my own (or the result of an English heritage).

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><p>The room was eerily silent. The trail of glistening crimson almost in keeping with the exquisite decorations. Streams of silver tinsel adorning a perfect tree, the smell of the forest still fresh within its branches. Candy canes and an entire gingerbread family had been lovingly placed between the shimmering red and silver baubles. It were as though Santa himself had walked beneath the branches, laying down boxes wrapped in brown paper, Christmas ribbons and tags neatly tied ... except, of course, for the fact that the fingerprints were red and the strong coppery odour overpowered the sweet scent of pine.<p>

A single bauble rocked gently where it lay, the hanging hook tapping gently into the slowly expanding pool of crimson which surrounded it. The words "My first Christmas" with a single letter –'G' – written on the side in sparkling pastel pink glittered under the twinkling tree lights. Beneath the letters, the silver surface was almost perfect – mirror-like – allowing the injured man to watch his own blood as it left his body, without ever having to move a muscle ...

**_Three hours earlier_**

"Okay, so which one of you was it?"

Kono and Chin simultaneously winced at the sharpness of the tone, sharing a look and a raised brow for the rant they knew was coming.

"And what the hell are you doing? What _is _that thing?"

"Virtual air hockey, brah – a Christmas present from the Boss. You wanna play?" Kono smiled her sweetest smile, hoping against hope that the distraction worked.

"Do I want to _..." _A huff, arms thrown high in the air as blue eyes rolled to the ceiling.

_And he's off. _Chin released his mallet on the smart table, laid his palms flat and rested against the sturdy frame with a sigh.

"Do I want to _play?_ No! I do not want to _play"._ A pair of air quotes accompanied the inflection.

"What I _want _is to know whose bright idea it was to cut the pants off of the Magi? And who the hell shaved Balthazar's beard and gave him a surf board? And where's his gold? I found the Frankincense and the Myrrh, but the Gold is missing. You thought it was real, huh? If you or that imbecilic Army-boy tried to sell it on eBay, so help me I'll …"

Kono couldn't help but smirk, casting her eyes to the floor in fear of losing it completely at the sight of the figure being waved around in front of her.

"Oh, so you think it's funny, huh? It amuses you that years of tradition have been reduced to ... _this!" _Danny stared at the pair of them with the intensity of a starving tiger, his eyes boring into them so deeply Kono could _feel_ the burn. She returned his gaze, but saw no hint of a playful smirk mirrored on his face. No suppressed laughter reaching those expressive blue eyes. The only thing held there was hurt and betrayal … and anger.

"Oh Danny, c'mon brah."

"C'mon? Seriously? That's the level of care I get for wilful destruction of property? It's a _crime,_ Kono. A _crime_! Was it just you? How long did it take you to desecrate religious artefacts, huh?"

Chin held up a hand and stepped toward the blonde as his arms flailed in true Italian-American flamboyance. "Danny stop it, I'm sure it was just meant as a joke - and they're hardly _religious artefacts."_

_"Oh, _well excuse me for not seeing the funny side of such sacrilege! How about I go paint daisies all over your shotgun?"

Chin took a deep breath as Danny pointed and jabbed at his chest with his index finger. The Hawai'ian held up his palms in supplication.

"Or maybe I'll go carve shark-bites into your competition board, Kono - see how you feel about that?"

"Oh, that's hardly the same thing, Danny."

"No, Kono. It's _exactly_ the same thing. Those Magi - the whole darn nativity - have been in my family for _years. _Pop gave them to Mom and she gave them to me ... for _Grace_. What the hell am I gonna say to _her_? 'I'm sorry, Monkey, we can't have a proper nativity this year because Aunt Kono and Uncle Steve - don't think I don't know he was involved - care so little about our values that they destroy our stuff'?' Great role models. Thank you very fucking much! At least I know where I stand. Merry fucking Christmas!"

Kono's mouth opened and shut like a fish, not a sound escaping as she stood, dumbstruck by the heat in Danny's outburst. In truth, she had no idea what to say – or indeed that the prank would backfire so very badly. So she closed her mouth, dropped her guilt-ridden gaze from the ball of fury thrumming with anger in front of her and simply waited. With a last glare, Danny huffed once more and made to storm back to his office. Turning and taking a step back toward the smart table, he waited for their full attention before slowly and deliberately pointing at the mallets abandoned in front of each of the cousins,

"And for the record, Christmas presents are meant to be opened on the twenty-fifth, not just whenever it takes your fancy. You know, for someone who lectured me about respecting 'Island Tradition', Chin, you've outdone yourself in disrespecting mine." And with that final cutting remark, Danny turned on his heels and left.

Chin looked at Kono, who's mouthed "ouch" came nowhere close to expressing the sting of Danny's words.

***H50***

Danny closed his eyes in hopes that reopening them would somehow change things. Let him wake up from the dream – nay, the nightmare – and everything would be okay again. Fixed by a wave from the magic Christmas fairy atop his tree. His friends – his _'ohana _– wouldn't have betrayed his trust; his daughter would be at home with him instead of having some fancy Christmas-eve dinner date with her mother; he wouldn't need to explain the desecration of the Magi … and there certainly wouldn't be physical pain. Definitely no deep, low burn of fire in his shoulder with a front that continued to rage along his arm and right back up into his neck. Nope. No fire. No heart hammering frantically in his chest as if someone engaged the 'turbo boost' and jammed the throttle full-on. And it would definitely be easier to think. A nightmare. Just a nightmare. The warm, red stickiness seeping through his shirt was nothing more than spilled spiced wine. Yup. That's all this was. An egg-nog-induced nightmare of epic proportions. It would all be fine when he opened his eyes … if he could just open his eyes … in the morning. Everything would be fine in the morning. After a little nap. He was suddenly tired. So very tired. He just needed a little nap and everything would be ok.

***H50***

"Danny!"

The cousins heard the shout and the banging of the doors before they laid eyes on their boss, struggling under the weight of … what _was_ that?

"You ok, boss?"

"Hey Kono, where's Danny? He was meant to be taking these home with him ready for tomorrow." At Kono's apparent confusion, Steve continued. "Turkey and a ham."

Peeking into the bag as Chin relieved Steve of the turkey, Kono's brow wrinkled. "Err … Boss … Where'd you get the turkey?"

"The guys at Kokua market got it in special order from California." Steve's face was the embodiment of pride, "It's free-range organic."

"And it has … six? Yeah, _six _legs! You sure about its provenance, boss? Sure it wasn't grown in a test tube somewhere?"

Steve just laughed. There would be no fighting over the legs at _this_ year's Christmas table – he'd spent a small fortune on extra legs to be sure.

"So? Where's D? If these aren't back in a refrigerator soon they'll start to turn."

Kono chewed her bottom lip and glanced at her cousin. "Umm … yeah. About that, Boss … he, umm … I …"

"You did it, didn't you?"

"I thought …"

"Kono, I _told_ you he'd blow his stack. How bad is it, Chin?"

"Bad."

"Crap. He go home?"

"Think so. He left a couple hours ago."

"Dammit."

"You might wanna grab a vest if you plan on going over there – he thinks you were involved."

"Ungh, _Kono! _Have you fixed the Magi?"

"I couldn't … he took the whole set with him when he stormed out of here like the place was on fire." Steve scrubbed his free hand over his face and sighed in exasperation. Kono grabbed the little shoe box off of the smart table and held it out. "His original clothes and the beard are in here. I had no idea he'd react like that – it was only meant as a bit of fun …" Kono's voice trailed off as Steve took the box and she hugged herself, rubbing her arms in a subconscious attempt to warm the chill of guilt settling in her chest.

"I know, Kono. He'll come around. He knows you well enough, he just can't see it right now is all. I'll talk to him and call you later, ok?" A barely perceptible nod and Kono had moved on from chewing her lip to her nails.

"I'll give you a hand out." Chin gently squeezed his cousin's shoulder in reassurance before lugging the six-legged bird back out to Steve's truck, the SEAL and his enormous ham in hot pursuit.

**_Williams' residence_**

"Danny! C'mon, Danny - I know you're in there. Your car's in the drive and the lights are on." Steve rapped once more on the door. "You can't hide forever, Danny. Would you just open up and let me explain? … Danny?"

Steve took a step back from the door and bounced on his toes, the strange feeling in the pit of his stomach that something wasn't right growing stronger by the second. Moving to peer once more through the window and seeing no movement inside, Steve huffed. _Fine. You can kill me later, _he thought as he rummaged around in the flowerpot for the key. It wasn't the first time he'd let himself into Danny's place, but he'd always had permission … until now. Something just wasn't sitting right today. The sleek, black Camaro was parked right where it should be. Fake snow adorned the corners of the windows, elaborate paper snowflakes hanging just inside. The lights were on in the kitchen. Danny had obviously made it home. But Steve had been standing outside, hammering on the door for a good five minutes and there hadn't been a peep from within. That wasn't like Danny. There was no rant, no shouting to _go away_ or _shut the hell up_ before he woke the entire neighbourhood. No. Something was _definitely_ not right. Not right at all. Steve's 'spidey sense' had gone way past a tingle and was practically shouting at him from the rooftop, waving like it was possessed by the devil himself … in neon … with flashing lights … _hmmm._

"I'm coming in, Danny." Steve instinctively checked his sidearm as he turned the key in the lock, the unease quickening his heart. "Danny?"

Steve stepped into the room, scanning for signs of … what? He had no idea. A struggle? A tantrum? _Something. _And he found? Nothing. Nil. Nada. Zip. Even that failed to settle his disquiet. If anything, it ramped it up a notch.

"Danny? C'mon man, this isn't funny anymore." _It never was. _

A weird rasping drew Steve further into the house. He noted the wrapping paper and tape on the kitchen bench; the smell of a freshly brewed coffee pot assaulted his senses. Steve's weapon was in his hand before he even realised what he was doing. His heart was in his mouth.

"Danny! Answer me, dammit."

As he turned the corner, he got his answer … and his heart dropped. _Fuck._


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Still own nothing.

**A/N:** Small nod to Evil Cosmic Triplets in this chapter - if you've not yet stumbled upon 'Gingerbread Cookies and Gumdrop Buttons' in the fandom, you're missing out ... just don't have anything resembling food, drink or precious items that shouldn't be dropped in your possession when you read it - I've been giggling in near hysteria for days!

IC - consider your challenge complete too ;o)

Continued thanks to _TheDogo_ for the beta ... any errors which remain are entirely my own (or the result of an English heritage).

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><p>***H50***<p>

Danny was deathly pale, like a ghost in blood-drenched clothing. He hadn't moved as Steve dropped next to him after clearing the house and flipped him flat on his back, lax arms dropping to the stained wood floor with a heart-wrenching thud. He barely registered the persistent tapping on his face or the irritatingly loud calling of his name. He was snuggled in the blanket of semi-consciousness, the whole world a distant memory … until someone fanned the flames and reignited the fire he'd tried so very hard to ignore. The small movement of the blades enough to drag him screaming back to the harsh reality of his agony. He briefly wondered about the guttural scream, about what kind of hell an animal was going through to make such a sound … until he realised it came from his own mouth. It sounded strange though, distant. Like there was an ocean between his mouth and his ears. An entire ocean that allowed him to float … except something – _someone_ – was pulling, no _pushing,_ him down. Increasing pressure upon him until he thought his whole world might implode. He was going to drown in the flames … only he couldn't drown in flames – they'd be extinguished by the ocean … but they were so intense … it burned hot and white and it was all he could do to raise a hand and try to beat them away … a hand that was gripped by something strong and solid – _someone_ … _Steve. _Steve was here. He had to tell him. Had to tell Steve about the inferno. Had to just …

"St'v … fyr … hur's" was all he could manage before his breath was stolen by the ocean and the flames. The warm, numbing blanket of ignorance enveloping his senses once again as it dragged him away from his pained existence and into oblivion. 

**_Queen's Medical_**

Steve paced a trench in the floor of the surgical waiting room, inadvertently picking at his blood-encrusted fingers. His mind was racing, travelling at a million miles an hour … but the only destination was _that_ 'what if?' He couldn't shake the sense of dread that had seeped into every fibre of his being since he found his best friend laying in a pool of his own blood.

"Steve?"

The softly spoken word startled him from his reverie. He stopped, body snapping to attention as his mind processed the voice. Regaining at least some semblance of his equanimity with a quick scrub through his hair, Steve turned, lips thinning in stressed greeting. Chin's posture reflected the tension in the room. The unspoken question screaming from his body language alone.

"No word yet. Still in theatre."

Kono's soft gasp from the doorway drew the attention of both men. Her eyes dark, swirling pools of unshed tears as the gravity of the situation nearly undid her composure. She stared at her boss. At the flakes of maroon and crimson adhered like a tidemark to the skin of his forearms; to his watch; thick in his nail beds. At the rust-coloured edge of his almost-dried cargo pants; a semi-congealed string of Danny's blood wrapped around his calf like a jellyfish tentacle, the pain of the sight just as intense as a sting. A worried hand drawn to her mouth, Kono again chewed on her nails. A childhood vice that persisted through her fear. _So much blood. Too much._ The voice in her head wanted her to believe that everything would be ok. Danny would be ok. He would. He had to be. The only words that stuck came from her guilt. So much like her boss, that same 'what if?' playing like a broken record alongside the thought that the last time she'd seen Danny she'd hurt him … and he'd hated her for it. 

**_2 hours earlier, Williams' residence_**

Danny cursed under his breath, elbow holding down the paper as he fumbled for the end of the sticky tape. It was inevitable. Happened every ... single ... time. The moment he was ready to use the stuff, the darn tape end decided to merge with the rest of the roll. It was like some sort of weird wrapping conspiracy. No matter what he tried, it always ended the same way. The pre-cut strips ended up stuck to either themselves or the table; the dispenser grated his fingers or failed to cut or the roll refused to turn – even the industrial hand-held dispenser he'd misappropriated from the office had fallen apart. Last year he'd tried those little sticker things … and double sided dots … and even a hunk of blu-tack followed by ribbons and string. The stupid stickers were less sticky than the 'potions' Grace used to make in the kitchen when she was four; the double sided dots had been too efficient and refused to come off his fingers, tearing the paper; and he had still been picking blu-tack out of the carpet in March. Boxes were never quite the right size though. And bags just looked like you couldn't be bothered, no matter how attractive the design. So it had to be wrapped and whilst the tape was the bane of his existence, Danny was pretty darn proud of this year's efforts. He'd gone with a mix of brown paper with red and silver ribbons and a green paper with white polkadots which he'd dressed with brown string and red ribbon. He had even curled some of the ribbon ends on the edge of the scissors and made the tags himself.

As he placed the last gift beneath the tree, Danny smiled in satisfaction. At least something looked the way it was supposed to. Grace had helped him to decorate the tree this year and they had put the finishing touches to it, adding crackers and gingerbread only yesterday. It looked much better than the sorry excuse for a nativity scene he had been trying to fix since he got home. He'd wrapped the final present in part for the distraction. Melchior and Gaspar didn't look too bad dressed in bastardised cotton napkins with some of the wrapping string as a belt. Balthazar, on the other hand, looked ridiculous without his beard. Danny had tried using coffee-stained cotton wool, but when it came to sticking it on there wasn't a method he'd found yet that worked. He'd have to re-visit that particular mission and McGyver something shortly so he could at least hide him in the back of the stable without him looking too out of place. He still couldn't quite believe it had even happened. That his so-called friends had done something so incredibly thoughtless. He wasn't sure how he was going to handle it – the whole thing had shaken his trust. He had been sure he knew Kono better than that – was sure _she_ knew better. But Balthazar was grinning up at him from the floor, sans beard and wearing board shorts to match the miniature surfboard. Danny bent down and picked up the little wooden object, turning it over in his hands. It was a well-crafted piece and as he turned it over and studied it more closely, he realised it was actually waxed. _Only Kono. _He chuckled to himself. Only Kono would have a perfect miniature replica of her surf board, complete with wax. That was when it struck him. It _was_ a replica. A perfect replica of Kono's competition board, even down to the tail shape, contours and skegs. _Why would she have given Balthazar her replica? _That was special – it _meant_ something to Kono. He remembered her telling him she had been presented with it by her surfing coach the year she blew out her knee. He had told her to pour her passion into her recovery like she did the competition, the board a reminder that she could do whatever she put her mind to. Kono kept it on a stand in her trophy cabinet as a reminder that the things you love are carried with you in your heart and if you believe in something- or someone – you fight for it with everything you have. Danny cursed himself for not noticing it earlier. There had to be more to this than his anger had let him see. He'd call Kono as soon as he'd finished clearing up.

As he stood, staring at his tree and pondering the Magi, he realised that in his frustrated haste he'd forgotten to curl the ribbons on the last gift. He placed the replica board back on the floor with Balthazar and grabbed his scissors. His mind raced to figure out what he'd missed as deft fingers pulled the ribbon across the splayed blades, perfectly tight curls falling away to dangle from the tag. After replacing the gift beneath the tree, he rose and stepped back to admire his handiwork … and all at once his foot disappeared from under him and the world seemingly rose to meet him. Legs splayed at an angle more befitting a gymnast than a detective, Danny saw the glint of the blades less than a second before impact with the floor.

***H50*** 

"Hey Danno, welcome back."

Blinking away his haziness, Danny heard the softly spoken welcome before he could focus his eyes on his partner.

"Wha ... Where's Grace?"

"Still with Rachel. She's gonna stay the night. Rachel knows, but we've not worried Grace. You can call her in a bit, okay?"

"Okay. What's with the face, Steven?"

Steve chuffed and let out an obvious sigh of relief before scrubbing a hand over his stubbled chin.

Danny met his gaze as he visibly watched the relief flood over his best friend. "And why are you holding my hand?"

A small squeeze and an actual laugh escaped Steve's lips before his concerned aneurism face made an appearance.

"You scared me, D … I, I thought we'd lost you – hell, if I hadn't shown up when I did ..." A tighter squeeze as his too-soft voice trailed off. The carefully guarded, yet not unnoticed, swallow that followed emphasizing the worry and fear Danny saw in those expressive hazel eyes. Danny shifted in the bed, wincing as the movement flared a pain in his shoulder.

Steve was on his feet and reaching for the call bell in less than a second.

"Calm your farm, mother hen. Just hurts a bit when I move. I'm fine."

Steve rolled his eyes to the heavens and crossed his arms.

"And whatever they've been putting through here," Danny held up his good arm to indicate the IV, "has taken the edge off quite nicely. In fact, I'm feeling just a tad fuzzy round the edges and if you go fetch me any more drugs I'll probably lose the plot completely and start thinking I'm the fairy on the Christmas tree or part of the gingerbread family or something!"

Danny's dopey smile made Steve's heart flip – the man was kinda cute when he was high.

"So what the hell happened?" Steve probed.

"Kono happened!"

Steve's forehead creased and his eyebrows almost met in his silent confusion.

"That bloody surf board."

"Wha … the one in the nativity? How …?"

"It was on the floor. I must've stepped on it – turns out waxed replica boards slide really well on laminate wood flooring. Who knew?" Danny's face wrinkled as he shifted once again.

The man clearly wasn't comfortable and Steve fiddled first with the bed remote and then the pillows in an attempt to help him find comfort.

"Would you just …" Danny batted at his partner's hands as the over-protective man fluffed and fiddled with the pillows. "For heaven's sake, Steven, stop it! I'm _fine_. I don't need you fussing."

Raising his hands and plopping himself back into the chair, Steve looked questioningly at his best friend.

"Well?"

"Sheesh! I'm a little stoned right now, Steven, so forgive me if I forget where we were … what do you know? And what the hell did I do anyway? You probably know more than me!"

"You left the office before I got back with the meat and Kono kinda let it slip that you'd sorta blown your stack …"

"Justifiable, Steven. Did you see what she did to Balthazar? If I had to guess, I'd say you had a hand in it too …"

"I didn't … and Kono … she didn't mean …"

"Well whatever she did or didn't _mean_, she willfully destroyed my nativity – I should have her arrested …"

"Danny! She didn't mean to hurt you and she didn't _destroy_ anything," Danny's look of incredulity had Steve desperately scrambling to explain. "She unpicked his clothing and his beard actually peels off. I have it here, actually." The SEAL pulled out the little shoebox from the property locker next to the bed, presenting it to his friend like some sort of peace offering. "See? I told her it was a bad joke, but she apparently couldn't resist …"

"So you knew about it ahead of time?"

"I …"

Danny held up a finger to silence his partner. "So, I should also have you arrested as a co-conspirator ... I'll have to talk to Chin."

"You can't _arrest_ us, Danny – we're a team. We work together …"

"What do you mean? I'm not working with her, she – you _both_ – tried to _kill_ me!" Danny rested his head back on his pillow and closed his eyes after throwing Steve a look of complete disgust.

"Oh come on!" Steve was about to launch into a rant worthy of a Williams when he clocked the small smirk on his partner's face. In the pause that followed, Danny cracked one eye open, revealing a mischievous twinkle.

"Very good. You nearly had me." Steve deflated and sank back into the chair.

"Don't think I've for one minute forgiven and forgotten, but I kinda figured she'd not been as thoughtless as I told her she was, while I was laying there bleeding. Carry on." Danny gestured for Steve to continue.

"You wouldn't answer your phone and then your door, so I let myself in and found you … by the tree. You were unconscious and bleeding heavily and there was a pair of scissors sticking out of what looked to be your shoulder. I didn't know if you'd been attacked or what – there were bloody fingerprints on the floor and on Grace's present. I'm guessing you'd tried to reach your phone?"

Danny nodded. "I just couldn't seem to find the energy and it _really_ hurt – burned like fire." The fingers of his good hand traced the bandages, eliciting a wince as they crossed the wound.

"I wondered what you meant when you said fire. I was trying to keep pressure on the wound around the scissors and you were mumbling about a fire. I wasn't sure if it was real or if you were kinda delirious."

Danny looked at his best friend, eyes no longer filled with mischief as he almost whispered in response. "To be honest, I thought I was gonna die there. It was weird. Kinda like an odd alternate reality, you know? Like it was so bizarre that it couldn't be real. I kept thinking it was a dream and I'd wake up soon, but I was so darn tired."

"You nicked the top of your brachial artery with those scissors, babe. Lost a lot of blood – they gave you three units as soon as you got here and then more fluids and some plasma. Doc says you were lucky and they were able to repair it and the muscle should heal fine. You missed cutting the nerves by a hair, but they said you might still get some tingling because of swelling and bruising around there."

"Explains the burning down my arm then, huh? And the pins and needles in my hand," he said, flexing the fingers of his injured arm.

"So how the hell did Kono's surf board lead to this?"

"Slipped on it with the scissors in my hand. I guess I held on to them as I landed and … well …" Danny gave a one-sided shrug with his good shoulder.

A tap on the doorframe had both men turning towards it, a pained wince crossing Danny's face from the movement.

"Hey." Kono stood in the doorway, body taut with stress.

"Hey yourself." Danny said, softly.

"How you feeling, brah?" Chin caught the look from Steve and the pained grimace of the blonde detective, which was confirmed by his next word.

"Sore, but glad to be alive." The small smile that accompanied his words didn't quite reach his eyes, his gaze firmly fixed on the fidgeting woman who had yet to make it further than the doorway.

With the subtlety of a brick, Steve rose from the chair and scooted past the newcomers, mumbling something about getting a nurse to get more meds. Chin thumbed over his shoulder as the SEAL left the room, patting Danny lightly on the leg.

"Glad to see you awake, brah. I'll go make sure he asks the right nurse."

Danny smiled, both at the greeting and at the complete absence of subtlety in the pair's exit. Chin stopped in the doorway, a hand on Kono's shoulder to bolster her nerve and then he, too, was gone.

"I'm not gonna bite you, Kono." Danny patted the bed next to him. "C'mere."

"I'm so sorry, Danny. I never meant for … _this …_" Kono gestured to the room, to Danny's heavily bandaged upper arm and shoulder. "I just … I didn't realize it was so …" She slipped gracefully into the chair, looking for all the world as though she would either run screaming from the room or break down in tears at any minute.

Danny's good hand settled over her fidgeting fingers and he waited until her gaze rose to meet his before he spoke.

"I know you didn't mean to hurt me, Kono. I do. And Steve explained how you unpicked the clothing so it could be put back again."

Kono swallowed hard, buttoning her emotions down tight.

"I shouldn't have let my anger cloud my judgement of you. I'm sorry, ok?"

_"You're _sorry? I'm the one who caused all this. It's my fault. I heard what you said to Steve, about the surf board causing your injury …"

"My own carelessness caused my injury, Kono. I left your board where I could stand on it – granted, it wouldn't have been there in the first place if you'd not gotten my Magi naked …"

A small smile played at the edge of the young woman's mouth."They weren't naked for long and I turned them away while I changed them," she smiled.

"So it's not just Steve's butt you check out on a regular basis then?"

Kono almost snorted, a single tear escaping with her obvious relief at the situation.

Danny reached up and wiped it away with his thumb before taking Kono's hand in his own.

"I know it's just a silly nativity, but it means a lot to me. It was handed down through our family and I got it mainly because of Grace. She fell in love with it when she was a kid. Every year at Christmas when we'd visit Mom and Dad, it was all we could do to keep her long enough at the door to say hello. She'd run straight inside to the side table by the old fireplace and straight to the nativity. We had a bloody _funeral_ for the sheep when it fell and lost its head, for heaven's sake. She wouldn't let Dad fix it. She said, 'You can't just glue his head back on, silly. Fluffy died and we need to bury him'."

Kono couldn't help but laugh at that.

Danny just smiled as the nurse entered with a tray of syringes.

"Your friends said you were in pain again, Danny?"

He simply nodded.

"On a scale of zero to ten, with ten being the worst?"

"About a seven, I guess, until I move."

"And then?"

With a guilty grimace, "eleven?"

The nurse, Anya, tutted as she lifted Danny's good hand from Kono's lap. "You do realise you're meant to tell me _before_ it gets too bad, right?"

Danny frowned and drew his lips into a thin-lipped smile by way of an apology as the nurse injected the drugs into his IV port, shaking her head in frustration at her patient's stoicism. As she left, Danny continued.

"These figures - this nativity - may not be religiously precious in the eyes of a church, but to me they _mean_ something. These little figures... _it _means something. I put them out every year and every year they're the same. It's like a reminder that wherever I am, whatever life has thrown at me - at _us - _the tradition of family still _means_ something. That the people I love and care about are with me - _us_ - no matter how far away we all are from one another." Danny yawned and shifted in bed.

"I'm sorry, Danny. If I'd known … I … it was supposed to be a harmless prank … I never would've destroyed your stuff …"

"I know, Kono. I think I damaged _your_ board instead. I'm sorry. It was your replica, wasn't it?"

"Yeah – it just needs re-waxing is all. I figured a king would have all the cool stuff, right?" Kono winked, a dimpled grin on her face.

Danny yawned again and settled deeper into his pillows as Steve and Chin returned to hover in the doorway, arms folded on their chests like mirrored guardians.

"Hmmm, but the Magi can't wear _boardies_ and go _surfing._" Another yawn as his eyes slipped closed, "It's not right."

"Danny?" Kono leaned in, taking his hand in hers and rubbing her thumb gently across his knuckles.

"Yeah?" He peeled back one eyelid and looked at her.

"Are we good?"

"Yeah, Kono, s'all g'd," Danny slurred as he drifted into a drug-induced slumber. "M'rry Chr's'm's!"

"Merry Christmas to you too, Danny."

Steve and Chin watched as Kono visibly relaxed, a knowing smile on each of their faces.

"So does anyone other than Danny know how to cook this six-legged turkey you bought?"

"Nope. But they sell turkey and cranberry sandwiches in the cafeteria …"


End file.
